Worrals Takes a Hand
Worrals Takes a Hand is a Worrals short story which was first appeared in the Childrens Gift Book published by Odhams in 1946. It is set in the immediate postwar years. This is one of the uncollected stories. After being first published in The Childrens Gift Book, it was not collected into an anthology published in Johns' lifetime. Synopsis Frecks has taken a job flying for an airline in Africa but promises to stay in touch. When she fails to maintain contact, Worrals goes to look for her. Plot (may contain spoilers - click on expand to read) Frecks has taken a job with Equitorial Airways in East Africa. She promised to keep in touch with Worrals who couldn't join her because of some domestic affairs at home. Frecks sends one telegram announcing her arrival but nothing more is heard from her. After two weeks, Worrals flies to Najula to call on Tommy Batson, the manager of Equitorial Airways. Batson explains to Worrals that he had advertised for pilots who could bring their own aircraft because he had already lost two planes and the company was broke. Furthermore, in the last three months, he had lost four pilots, including Frecks. He could not afford to go on and was planning on closing his business. Worrals however persuades him to go on. After all he had a valuable concession to supply the Nova gold mine 600 miles to the west. Worrals offers to fly for him using her own aircraft. Batson accepts and Worrals departs westwards for the Nova mine with a bag of mail. Enroute, in accordance with Batson's warning, she keeps 5,000 feet above the Maratoro Reserve, an area rich in diamondiferous gravel which was declared out of bounds by the government. On arrival at the Nova mine, Worrals is surprised to find it quite deserted. The manager Lane and two other men invite her to lunch. Over the meal, Lane asks Worrals if she would prefer to work directly for Nova to prospect for new ore veins. Worrals turns him down but surmises that this same proposal had probably been made to previous pilots, including Frecks. But what happened to them after they rejected the offer? Lane and the other men want to fly with Worrals back to Najula, but once in the air, the man next to Worrals pulls out a gun and forces her to land inside the Maratoro Reserve next to a dry watercourse. The man explains that his name is Tyson, he would have flown the plane himself but he got frequent bouts of fever and kept crashing his aircraft. Down in the reserve, Worrals is shoved into a hut where she meets Frecks and two other pilots, Jimmy Smith and Bob Cable. Bob explains that Lane and his gang were prospecting illegally for diamonds. Batson was also part of the gang. The next morning, the gang gets ready to depart. Worrals tells Lane she needs hot water to treat Jimmy Smith who has a bullet wound. Lane tosses her a matchbox and she lights a bonfire with it. Meanwhile the prisoners gather to watch as the gang attempt to start Worrals' aircraft but the engine just refuses to get going! Worrals tells everyone that while the gang had been busy prospecting, she had poured some water into the gravity tank of the plane. Lane is angry and threatens to shoot Worrals, but too late, a large force of Askaris converge on the camp from all directions and the gang is taken prisoner. Worrals explains to Frecks that she had come prepared. From checks with the Air Ministry, she had learnt that Batson had once served in the Air Transport Auxiliary. He and Tyson had both been caught for smuggling and sent to prison. Before flying to the Nova mine, she had made arrangements with the senior R.A.F. officer at Nairobi. She would tie down the transmit button of her radio while in the air and fly a constant speed. A radio operator would follow her signal. When she came down one and a quarter hours outbound from the Nova mine, the radio operator would know, from the time the signal ended, just how far she had travelled. The lighting of the bonfire was not really for hot water--it was a beacon for the Askari troops. Since no one was supposed to be in the Reserve, any smoke must indicate the presence of people. Characters *Worrals *Betty "Frecks" Lovell *Tommy Batson *Flying Officer Tyson *Lane *Jimmy Smith *Bob Cable Aircraft *Ranger - a four seater light aircraft with a single engine. Frecks and Worrals owned one each. Places Visited *Najula *Situri *Nairobi Mentioned Research Notes References to the past Incongruities Chronology Publication History *''The Childrens Gift Book'', Odhams 1946 *Collected in Winged Justice and Other Uncollected Stories, Norman Wright, 2001 References Category:Short stories Category:Worrals short stories Category:Uncollected stories